


A Lesson In Lakeside Romantics

by dolly_dagger87



Series: A Series of Romantic Lessons [5]
Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-07-05 01:32:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 11
Words: 21,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15853494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dolly_dagger87/pseuds/dolly_dagger87
Summary: He brought Bull as his date.What follows is the almost wasn’t love story of Johnny Martin and Bull Randleman, from cabin to chapple and lake to pond. A companion toA Lesson in Summer RomanticsandA Lesson in Eternal Romantics.





	1. Chapter One

When Johnny Martin started at Camp Igintli, he assumed he got there like all the other boys. Well, not exactly like the other boys. He didn’t see anyone else on his flight from Ohio. But he figured the camp was going to be full of city boys whose mothers had also sent them to get some fresh air against their will. After a couple of summers there, he realized that he couldn’t have been more wrong. Turns out parents sent their kids away for a lot of reasons and some of them weren’t really as benevolent as Johnny’s. 

His parents had honestly meant well when they signed him up for camp. That still didn’t mean that Johnny wanted to go. He remembered the day that they sat down at the table for dinner and his mom said those fateful words. 

“So I was looking on the internet this afternoon.” 

Both Johnny and his dad stiffened when she said this. It was never anything good. They had two options - one, it was some DIY nightmare she just had to try that looked super easy but was actually going to be more complicated and require three trips to the hardware store. Or two, she’d signed Johnny up for something. It had varied over the years from volunteer work, to little league, to a pottery class that hadn’t been horrible, but he didn’t tell her that. 

“I found this summer camp,” she continued and Johnny had noticed his father relax next to him, the traitor. 

Normally Johnny took his mom’s modelling in stride. It normally wasn’t a huge commitment on his part; he probably lost a couple of Saturday’s over it, but soon she’s figure out he wasn’t into it and she’d find him something else and the cycle continued. But if it was for the whole summer, she wouldn’t figure it out quickly and he’d lose the whole summer. The Whole Summer. 

His mom had slid the brochure across the table and he’d barely glanced at it, only long enough to see that it was in Georgia before he said no. A man has to put his foot down at some point. He’d learned that the spring before when his father had vetoed the master bedroom suite idea his mother had seen on cable. There were just moments when you had to say no. 

The rest of dinner had passed mostly in silence and Johnny could tell he’d hurt his mother’s feelings. But he couldn’t figure out how to say he was sorry without also ending up in Georgia. So when dinner was over he retreated to the basement and his train set. He’d just gotten a new town hall kit. And while it wasn’t the nicest building kit he’d ever bought it had been on sale for sixteen bucks so he figured even if he ended up having to buy extra paint it was still a good deal. He’d just gotten the box open when his dad came down the stairs and Johnny could tell they were about to have one of their Talks. 

His dad sighed as he sat down on one of the other open folding chairs Johnny had placed around the track. “I know this is one of the more long term commitments that your mom has signed you up for. And I know this is not your idea of fun. But I think she’s worried about you spending your whole summer down here. And I know that doesn’t bother you, but she worries.” 

She worries you don’t have any friends. His dad hadn’t needed to say it, this was not a new worry of his mother's. 

“So,” another sigh, “I want you to go.” He held up his hands, sensing an interruption. “And in exchange I’ll buy you the new transformer you’ve been eyeing at the hobby store.” 

Johnny knew his eyes got big. That transformer was nearly two hundred bucks. This was like having two birthdays in a year. 

“I figured you’d mow lawns and do chores all summer trying to get it, so I’ll trade you summer camp for it. And if we get through the shopping to prepare for this-”

And they both knew there would be shopping to prepare for this. There was always shopping to prepare for whatever it was. 

“With no complaining, I’m willing to throw in the drive in burger stand kit that keeps turning up in a my recently viewed every time I pull up Amazon.” 

He’d honestly had Johnny at the transformer and so he’d packed himself off to Georgia. And he didn’t hate it his first year. It wasn’t the most fun that Johnny had ever had. But it wasn’t completely miserable. He got the feeling that unless they were spending time with cabin one, his cabin leader Lewis Nixon didn’t want to be there either so at least he wasn't trying to make this place sound like a magical wonderland. But he met some friends and took up fishing and it went by pretty quick. 

The next year his mother mentioned at the dinner table that she had received an email asking if he’d like to reserve his spot for the next year. He told her he’d think about it, his father had come down to the basement and asked if a new switch machine would help him make up his mind? He’d maybe been quiet a bit too long, so his dad threw in a house kit and the deal was closed and he went off to camp for a second summer. Sure his going rate for compliance had gone down a bit, but he actually had friends. 

At the end of his uneventful summer, Nix had taken him aside and asked him if he’d like to have his camp fee reduced in exchange for becoming a cabin leader. He’d initially said no, it sounded like too much work. But then he found out that Buck and Speirs had gotten the same offer and were going to accept. So Martin went back to Nix and told him sure he’d do it. Nix had clapped him on the shoulder and told him thanks. And that was how Johnny Martin went from reluctant camp goer to the cabin leader for Cabin Two. 

~

Denver Randleman had always been his Mama’s favorite. Sure some kids think they are, but he knew it as a fact. And that fact was often confirmed for him when he’d get off the football field - she always had this anxious look on her face that would only go away after he told her he was ok at least three times. 

That’s where he’d picked up the nickname Bull that most everyone including himself used. His mother didn’t make the shift; she still called him Denver or sweetie but at least she never used the nicknames where other people were around. She’d always looked out for him. Wanted the best for him. She talked of college all the time even though he knew he wasn’t going. Not to play football or because he knew he’d need the degree. Those types of jobs never appealed to him. He wanted to be outdoors, sun on his face, out there with nature. Hunting and fishing appealed to him as did his dad’s farm. And that seemed to cause his mama the most distress of all. She never said why. Never actually openly said it did. But she would get this look on her face and turn away quickly whenever Bull mentioned staying on the farm. 

She tried everything. First it was sports, but she may have regretted that he took to football. Church groups were next, that didn’t really take. It wasn’t because he wasn’t religious, just that he hated being forced to join things and be social. Finally she seemed to settle on something. How she did, Bull would never know but she found a summer camp. 

And for the first time, she and Bull agreed on something. The camp sounded like a blast. The whole summer spent outdoors. Fishing, swimming, canoeing, and camp fires. It was all nature and all things Bull loved. There was just one problem; he’d miss the harvest. And the second he’d heard that, he’d told her he couldn’t and excused himself to go water the horses. He didn’t need his father to tell him no, it was the most important time of year besides plating and it wasn’t really optional to miss. It didn’t mean he wasn’t disappointed, but he had to do what was best for his family. 

He was nearly done with the horses when his father came out into the barn. Bull knew what was coming, he was coming out to tell him no. His mama had asked and his dad was here to be practical. 

“Nice night,” he said, and Bull really wasn’t sure why he was stalling. 

“Sure is,” Bull said. 

“Let’s get the poles, we’ll go down to the river and cast a few lines.” His dad said, and now Bull knew it was going to be a serious talk. The river was normally reserved for coming of age type moments. But Bull didn’t say anything, just helped his dad load the gear and looked idly out the window as he drove the farm truck. 

They had their lines in the water before his father spoke again, “So your mom tells me she found a summer camp for you. Tried to tell me the name of it, but I can’t pronounce it.” 

“It...ah...it goes to late,” Bull said, trying not to sound disappointed about that, just saying it and get it out there. 

“She mentioned that too,” His dad nodded. “Said it was the first thing you noticed. Said you were real responsible about it, thought of the family first. Makes me proud you did that.” 

“Thanks,” Bull mumbled, eyes on the water. 

“Because of that, I think you should go,” his dad said. 

“What?” Bull was stunned and he knew he sounded that way. 

“Yeah, I think I can spare you,” his dad said. “You cousins will be here and you’ve been making good grades. I think you deserve it.” 

“Thank you,” Bull said, still a bit surprised. 

“Your mama worries,” his dad continued. “About a lot of things but you knew that. But one of the things that worries her most is that you won’t see any more of this world then Arkansas. And she’s right to worry. You want to take over this farm when I’m gone and there’s nothing wrong with that. It makes me proud that you want that, makes me happy to know that it will stay in the family. But you know it only makes me proud if that’s what you want. And you say it is now and that’s fine. But your mama is worried you’re making that choice because you don’t know what else there is.” 

Silence wrapped around them for a moment. Bull wasn’t sure what to say and his father seemed to be thinking over what came next. 

“You know I’ve only seen the parts of the world the army sent me to. I don’t want you to see the world like that. I know you don’t have your heart set on school and that’s fine. But your mama is right there is a whole world out there and you need to see some of it. And I know Georgia is not that far away but I’ve never been and neither have you so that’s something. You should go and make some friends. If you want this farm, there will be plenty of summers for harvest.” 

“Ok,” Bull nodded. “Thank you.” 

“You’re a good kid, son, and out of all the things I’m proud of I’m proudest of that,” His dad said as he reeled in his line.


	2. Chapter Two

He was big for a fifteen year old. That was Johnny’s first thought when he saw his first camper arrive. He’d never been presented with the live action version of built like a house before. But here he was, and Johnny felt even shorter than he usually did. Kid was going to be hell as a zombie. 

“Welcome to cabin two,” Johnny said, getting up off the porch steps, trying to act like what he thought a cabin leader should be. Nix had been fairly poor example and he found Winters a little unrelatable so he was trying to strike for the middle. “Does that sound like you’re in the right place?” 

“Yeah, I’m Bull Randleman,” and a more appropriate nickname Johnny was sure he couldn’t have found.

“Johnny Martin. Most everyone here calls me Martin.” It was probably because he gave off the aura that he didn’t really want to be friends with them. Or because Speirs was probably the only person more antisocial than he was. 

“You’re the cabin leader?” and fuck, yeah Johnny probably should have opened with that. 

“Yeah, come on in. I’ll show you where to stash your stuff.” Johnny thought as far as recoveries go, that one had been ok. But that was ok, he’d get two more chances at this, since most campers stopped coming once they could drive, so he was sure to nail one of them. 

“You get your pick of the remaining beds,” Johnny said, “this one in the corner in mine.” And fucking duh it was, the only one that had stuff on it. It was going to be a long fucking summer if Johnny stated the obvious every chance he got.

Bull nodded and picked the one next to Johnny. He tossed his duffel on his foot locker and toed off his boots before sitting on the bed. 

“You can unpack now,” Johnny said, hoping his tone conveyed a question. “You don’t need my permission. In fact there’s a lot you don’t need my permission for. I’m not your mother or some shit like that, just stay don’t get caught is all I ask.” 

“I’ll get it later,” Bull said and that’s when Johnny realized what it was. 

“I’m not going to nark on you,” Johnny said. “Whatever you brought from home, I promise you someone has worse. Hell, I’ve probably brought enough candy to send you into a sugar coma.” 

Bull seemed to relax a bit. “It’s homemade jerky.”

“Here,” Johnny said, getting one of the boxes he collected from the recycling. It wasn’t a large box, probably no bigger than a shoebox but Nix had collected them every year and so Johnny figured if it wasn’t broke he’d just do it the same way this year. “You take this box and we duct tape it to the back of the head board keeping everything held inside by the headboard. They never look behind the beds when we’re checked. They figure since you can see under them no one can use them. They really do underestimate our deviousness here. If your duct tape isn’t holding, there’s always a roll in my footlocker. Most of this camp is held together with duct tape.” 

Bull laughed, and Johnny was glad someone would find his jokes funny. Bull held the box in place while Johnny carefully taped the sides, before cutting and opening in the top. They weren’t allowed candy, but as long as their parents signed a release a pocket knife was ok. Johnny had no idea what sense that made. 

“Thanks,” Bull said as he pushed his bed back. 

“Yeah it just helps to have been here before. It’s weird they say clearly what isn’t allowed but all of us just seem to know to bend the rules.” 

“They’re pretty dumb,” Bull said as he started to unpack the the rest of his stuff. 

“Figures my mother would find the one healthy summer camp to force me out of the house,” Johnny said flopping back onto his bed. 

“Force?” came the obvious question.

“I pretty much hang out in the basement when I’m home,” Johnny replied, leaving out the trains as he was not going to defend his hobbies to a stranger. 

Johnny looked up to see Bull nod. He didn’t seem to have a lot to say and that was probably ok. Johnny liked quiet as a rule. “Fishing’s ok though,” he said. 

“Fishin’ more than ok,” Bull said. 

Johnny smiled, he figured he and this kid would get along great. “Well anytime you want to go, you let me know. My old cabin leader is one of the counselors now and Nix’ll loan me keys if I ask nicely.” 

“Cool,” Bull said. “What do we do after dinner?” 

Johnny groaned. “Some stupid fucking social thing, it’s mandatory.” 

Bull made a disappointed noise. 

“Tomorrow’s free, most nights are free, unless we get some rain. I doubt there are going to be too many campfires. They do movie nights sometimes but they are super lame, and they don’t take a headcount.” 

Bull nodded and looked like maybe he was about to say something but the sound of footsteps climbing the stairs made him stop and turn his head to look out there door. Johnny got up off the bed and squared his shoulders. Here was his second chance at landing this who’s cabin leader thing. Maybe this time he’d come off a like he knew what he was doing. 

~

As the summer passed Bull found that he spent most of his free time by the lake. It wasn’t that he disliked his fellow campers, it was just that he was used to quiet time on the farm. His fellow cabin mates had really taken to Luz, the leader of cabin one. And he could understand it, Luz was outgoing and fun. His impressions, while horrible, were actually funny. But all that being said, he still prefered Martin. Martin had a dry sense of humor and it took awhile to get him to warm up to you but it was worth it. But probably the most important thing about Martin was that he could just be quiet and still. Martin seemed to enjoy it too, if the fact that he convinced Counselor Nixon to let them keep two poles and a small case of fishing tackle in their cabin was anything to go by. 

So often times he’d end up fishing with Martin, sitting just down from him on dock. It wasn’t as nice as the other docks that were covered but this one worked just fine for fishing. Sometimes Malarkey from three would come down and stand down the shore from them in his own little world. But that was happening less and less as he got to know his other cabin mates. He’d still make the trip sometimes, probably because Skip and Penk were the kind of people you needed a break from. 

Tonight though, he was alone. Martin had a leadership meeting, and told them to stay out of trouble. So here he was resolutely not missing anyone, and just trying to catch something even if he planned on letting it go. He was so lost in his own damn head that he nearly jumped out of his skin when Martin dropped the case of fishing tackle next to him. 

“Jesus, are you ok?” Martin asked. 

“Sorry…” Bull shook his head, “uh...I was somewhere else for a minute.” 

“Arkansas?” Martin asked. 

Bull shrugged, sure let’s call it Arkansas. That sounded better than an internal crisis party of one. 

“I am sorry,” Martin repeated. “I’m just in a mood, these staff meetings always get to me.”

For some reason it made something warm settle into Bull’s chest. That even when he was in a bad mood, Martin still wanted to share the same space as him. “Sobel?” It was a guess, but Bull figured it was probably at least half the problem. No one liked Sobel. 

Martin laughed and that made Bull smile. 

“Well, there’s always that,” Martin agreed and Bull could feel the unfortunate seriousness creep back into his voice. “But today I’m...today I just feel like I’m shit at my job.” 

“Cabin leader?” And Bull knew it was a stupid question because what other job did Martin have, but he honestly couldn’t believe Martin thought he was bad at it. 

“Well at least someone sounds surprised,” Martin replied. “It can’t figure why Nix thought I could do this, I don’t really like people.” 

“I don’t think counselor Nixon does much either.” Bull hoped his tone conveyed that he was trying to be understanding. “I mean he likes counselor Winters alright but I’m pretty sure that’s the limit.” 

A small smile tugged at the corner of Martin’s lips and then just as Bull saw it, it slipped right off. “But you can’t tell me you wouldn’t rather have Luz as a cabin leader, or Buck for that matter.” 

“No,” Bull said quickly and firmly. “I mean I like Luz, but in small doses. I couldn’t live with him. And…” Bull trailed off for a moment. “And I mean Compton’s fine and all but I don’t much care for baseball. So,” Bull shrugged, “I’m pretty happy where I am. I think Winters put me in the right place.” 

Martin looked at him with surprise and something else that Bull didn’t dare to name. Martin’s tongue came out and wetted his lips before he cleared his throat. He reached over and clapped his hand on Bull’s knee. “Thanks, Bull.” Martin gave his knee a squeeze before he removed this hand. “That ah...that actually helped.” 

Bull nodded, his knee still feeling warm where Martin had touched it. “Happy to help. It’s the least I can do. You almost got us all though zombie week, that’s more than Luz and Speirs did. You stuck with us, let us slow you down, and that means something to me. Even if it doesn’t to Garcia and Hashey. Luz may be a laugh but you stuck by us. And I believe if you hadn’t, you could have beaten Speirs.”

Martin laughed again. “I doubt that, Speirs is a steely eyed bastard. But um...thank you for the rest.” 

Another shrug. “What are friends for?” And Bull hoped he hadn’t pushed it too far, because he knew that it would hurt to hear that Martin didn’t consider them friends. 

But he needn’t have worried, because Martin smiled bright before he lightly punched Bull’s shoulder. “Fuck yeah.” Martin didn’t add anything at first just cast out his line and they settled into a comfortable silence. 

“You know,” Martin ventured as they packed up. “I bet if you came back next year we could knock that steely eyed bastard out of the game together.” 

Bull resting his fishing pole against his shoulder as they started to walk back to their cabin, “You bet your ass we could.”


	3. Chapter Three

Normally by the end of the summer, Johnny was ready to go home. By the end of July, he would have had his fill of socialization and nature. By the end of July, he would be ready to go home and tear into whatever project his father had bribed him with to get him to go to camp. But this year was different for a number of reasons. For starters, there was nothing waiting for him at home. Sure he bought some new figures before he left and he had some new parts for lighting. But he’d bought all those himself. He didn’t need a bribe this year, because Nix had asked him too. So he came. His mom had been thrilled. 

The reason that this year was different was because for the first time Johnny Martin was not going to be the first one on the bus. And he knew why and he wasn’t the only one. Nix had even seen fit to make a little joke about it. Completely against his will, he’d made a friend. He’d never been opposed to the concept of friends. He even had a few back home, much to his mom’s surprise. He’d just never seen the value in camp friends. It’s not like you could go see a movie together or something. 

He liked the guys at camp all right, but at the end of the summer, he left them where he found them and promised to return the next year. This year though, he had to admit that he was going to miss Bull. And since he was being honest, if only to himself, he had no idea what to do with that information. He could hear his mother’s voice in his ears, “You can’t be an island forever, Johnny darling.” 

So that’s why he was sitting here on the end of his bed watching Bull pack. Hashey and Garcia had already left having early flights, but Bull hadn’t been able to get one. Johnny was leaving on the last bus since he’d wanted to help get the kids off. Since he could get a direct flight, it hadn’t seemed like a hardship. So as he watched Bull carefully fold his things, he knew he should probably say something. But for the life of him couldn’t think of what that was supposed to be. He was about to maybe ask Bull for his phone number or maybe if that seemed too personal perhaps his email, when Bull spoke. 

“So you told Nixon that you’re gonna come back next year?”

The question implied that maybe Bull had checked, but still Johnny tried for casual when he answered, “Yeah, I figured I’ve got one more year in me.” 

Bull’s brow did a furrowing thing, that Johnny tried not read too much into. “Good. If I’m going to play hookie with the harvest, I’d better not end up someone else as my cabin leader.” 

Johnny smiled, pleased that Bull felt strongly about it. They lapsed into silence again as Bull closed his duffel. There was the distant sound of voices and Johnny knew it was other campers getting ready to board the afternoon bus and that Bull would need to be on it. So he got up off the bed and rehearsed what he was going to say as he walked over to Bull. 

When he got there, Bull was shouldering his duffel bag. Johnny had just decided to reach out for a handshake, since as a rule he wasn’t much of a hugger, when Bull leaned in and kissed him. Well, really it was more like he slammed their lips together aggressively. And Johnny knew now that he really needed to say something. 

But he was robbed of the opportunity when another voice called, “Bull, are you coming or not?” 

And just like that, in a swirl of affirmative answers and duffle bag, Bull was gone. Johnny stood there for a moment frozen, wanting to move but having no idea what to do if he started. His index and pointer finger touched his bottom lip and then he dropped down to sit down on Bull’s bed. 

The fuck just happened. 

Johnny had read his entire goddamn summer wrong. He’d been cast in a romance and been reading his lines all wrong. He would have expected to feel a bit more alarmed in this moment. But as he searched his tangled mess of emotions, he couldn’t find disgust in there. 

“Hey Martin, you ok?” 

Johnny looked up to find Nix standing in his doorway. He shook his head to clear it before he spoke, “Yeah...I’m...I’m good.” 

“You sure?” Nix prodded. “You look a little freaked out.” 

“Do you need my help with something?” Johnny was not going to sit here and examine his overly complicated feelings with Nix of all people. Christ, Speirs would probably be more supportive, if only because he rarely laughed at anything. So the chances he’d have a chuckle at Johnny’s expense was limited. 

Nix got that look on his face, that he always got when he was deciding whether or not he needed to be the adult in the room. 

“You need help striping the beds?” Johnny named a random chore he remembered from Nix’s list the day before. Anything to keep Nix from trying to be helpful. 

“Uh…yeah,” Nix replied. “I’ll get Speirs to grab an ATV so we can start hauling the mattresses backup to storage.” 

“Sounds good,” Johnny got up off the bed he’d been sitting on and started striping the sheets, so Nix would leave him the fuck alone. 

It was only after he heard the screen door close that Johnny remembered who’s sheets had balled up in his fists. Bull’s sheets. Bull’s bed. Bull, who’s phone number he didn’t have. Bull, who he couldn’t call to ask, the fuck just happened. 

 

~

Bull was sitting on the tailgate of the pickup in middle of a field in Arkansas, looking out at his father, the vet, and a cow. Looking but not really seeing, focusing on, or caring. At this moment he was miles away in Georgia reliving the worst kiss he’d ever given. His embarrassment made him look down at his hands. God, he was so goddamn dumb. 

“Well Bob, she looks fine to me but I’ll probably stop by tomorrow just to make sure.” 

Bull’s head raised at the sound of voices. He watched as his dad shook the vet’s had. “Thanks Jim, it’d really give me peace of mind.” 

“No trouble at all. Dale Hicks as got a mare fixing to give birth any day. So I’ve been driving out here every day,” the vet mentioned idly as they walked towards the trucks. “So Bull, looking forward to seeing you in uniform this weekend.” 

“Me too, sir,” Bull replied, because even in a moment of deep embarrassment, his mama raised him to be polite. 

“Gonna take the cougars to state this year?”

“Yes sir.” This time Bull mustered up some more conviction. 

“That’s what I like to hear. See ya tomorrow, Bob.”

“Thanks again, Jim.” His father gave a little wave. When the other truck had pulled off, his dad spoke again. “Well, you ready to head on back. Your mama’s probably got supper ready.” 

Bull nodded, sliding back a little back into bed of the pick up so he could ride back there on the way back to the house. 

“You alright, son?” his dad asked asked, leaning his arms against the side of the truck to indicate he wasn’t going anywhere any time soon. “You’ve been awful quiet since you came back from camp.” 

Bull shrugged prepared to lie to his dad, just like he’d done before and done to everybody else since he’d gotten home. But then he decided against it. Probably because they were out in the pasture and the dusk made him comfortable. “I kissed a boy at summer camp,” he admitted. 

“And?” his dad asked. 

“And?” Bull repeated, honestly confused. 

His dad leaned more of weight on the truck. “Well, a kiss is always the start of something, if you do it right. You did do it right, didn’t you?”

Bull laughed. “No sir, I did not.” 

His dad tapped his hand against the truck in disappointment. “Well, if he’s the forgiving sort maybe he’ll let you try again. If not, you’re young and…” his dad paused probably trying to decide on a gender. In the end he settled on, “You’ll find someone else. You should probably ask your mom about this, you know I’m shit at this stuff. When I proposed to your mother, I told her, ‘well Mary, we can get married or we can redo the kitchen.’ Lucky she didn’t leave me standing there in that kitchen.” 

Bull nodded. “I’m so glad she didn’t.”

“Bet you are,” his dad joked before he got serious again. “You weren’t keeping this in because you thought we’d take it badly, right? Because son, your mother and I love you, no buts and whoever you bring home is gonna sit just fine with us.” 

“I know,” and Bull did and knew he was lucky because of it. “I’m...I was just really embarrassed, it went pretty fuckin’ badly. It had more incommon with a car crash then it did a kiss.” 

His dad nodded. “Well as long as he didn’t deck you, I’d say you have a window. He wasn’t an asshole about it, was he?” 

“No,” Bull answered immediately not wanting his dad to think anything negative about Johnny. “No...he wasn’t anything about it. It was just horrible timing and I didn’t give him a chance to be anything about it. I’m still surprised I did it actually.” 

“Well, you’ve always been more about actions than words,” His dad nodded. “Take after me that way.”

“I’m pretty sure I fucked it up royal.” Bull looked at his legs stretched out in front of him. 

His dad nodded, “Well until you see him again there’s no point in worrying about. Maybe it’s better this way, he’ll have the whole summer to think it over. For better or worse he’ll probably know how he feels about it when you get back. And then you can go from there.” 

“I’m worried I fucked up the friendship.” Bull knew he sounded like he had the shit kicked out of him. 

“That was never going to be the same anyway,” his dad replied with the certainty of someone that knew exactly what they were talking about. “It’s all out there now, and everybody knows it and that is going to change things. Nothin’ you can do about that I’m afraid.” 

Bull nodded and some of his regret must have shown on his face because his dad continued.   
“I know this is the last thing you want to hear, but you’re young and you’ll bounce back from this. If this doesn’t work out, there will be someone else. Who knows, maybe they’ll even live closer.” His dad patted his knee again. 

“Thanks dad.” Bull made sure to look at his dad as he spoke so that he know he meant it. 

His dad just smiled, somewhat sadly. It was that look that both his parents got when they couldn’t fix something for their children. He patted Bull’s knee again before he started to the cab of the truck to drive them home for dinner.


	4. Chapter Four

Johnny sat on top of his footlocker, picking at the cuff of his faded camo cargo shorts. He looked up when he heard voices outside the cabin, his head shooting up and upon seeing that it wasn’t Bull standing there, he’d go back to picking at the hem of his shorts. He hated this feeling in his stomach. He knew what it was but damn it if he was going to admit that he was nervous even if it was only to himself. It was just that he had so many fucking questions. Over the course of the school year he had managed get past what the fuck happened, but only just. Now the sum total of his questions boiled to just one. 

Why?

It was obvious now that Bull had kissed him. It should have been obvious at the time but Johnny was completely caught off guard. And even though his mom had explained to him through laughter, like it was something he didn’t know, that people kissed someone when they liked them. And Johnny wasn’t stupid. He knew that, but why him? Johnny actively went out of his way to discourage people from approaching him. Sure he wasn’t as good at it as Speirs, but he still came in a strong second. What the hell kind of vibe was he giving off if he was starting to strike people as boyfriend material? 

And now that he was, what the hell was he going to do about it? He hadn’t really given himself permission to think of Bull that way. He was Bull’s cabin leader and tried to keep at least some level of professionalism about him as he went through the summer. Even if, as everyone pointed out, he had picked a favorite. But there was still a big step between the friendship that he and Bull had and what the kiss seemed to indicate Bull wanted. Or was at least taking for a test drive. 

Johnny sighed and flopped back onto the bed. He sighed. If that was a test drive, there was no way Bull was going to come back from the school year and decide he wanted anymore of that so maybe he was worried over nothing. 

He closed his eyes and covered them with the back of his hands. He didn’t know how long he laid there like that. He was pretty sure he didn’t fall asleep, but he was still startled when he heard Bull’s voice. 

“Little early in the summer for you to be this tired.”

Johnny removed his hands and opened his eyes to see Bull, albeit upside down, standing in the doorway. “Boredom has set in,” Johnny replied before he sat up. 

Bull laughed and shook his head before he picked up one of the boxes that Johnny had stolen for them to use to hide their stuff. Johnny tossed the duct tape over onto Bull’s bed. A bed that Johnny had made, as a nice gesture. Then deciding that it gave too much away, and fuck what if Bull didn't get back first, he made the other two. 

He’d had a lot of time to make himself crazy while he waited for Bull. And it appeared like he was going to have more time to worry about it because other then the sound of tearing duct tape, Bull wasn’t exactly holding up his end of the conversation. 

Johnny was about to say fuck it and go bribe Nix for the keys to the fishing poles, but knowing Bull he’d probably follow him and Johnny wasn’t sure how he felt about that yet. 

“How was the school year?” Bull asked.

Johnny shook his head to clear it. “Great, I’m free at last!.” Johnny held his arms out at his side as if to gesture at how happy he was. 

Bull smiled as he unloaded his duffle bag. “Wasn’t sure you’d come back this year, what with you graduating and all.” 

‘And all.’ There was a lot you could hide in those two words. 

Johnny shrugged, trying to make it look like he was indifferent to the whole thing. “Had to get out of there, my mom was fussing about living in the dorms. Fuck that, campus is three blocks from my house. I’m not going to give up only sharing a bathroom with three people for an ‘authentic college experience.’ So I had to get out of there or I was going to lose my mind.” 

Bull nodded, as he started sorting his stuff into his footlocker. “Mama says the same thing, makes it sound like life with suck without going to school.” 

Johnny didn’t know what to say to that. He knew how Bull felt about four year universities. They’d had this talk and many like it down by the lake. But Johnny still hoped that maybe, just maybe Bull’s mom would win out. Why, he didn’t know. It’s not like Bull parents could have afforded an out of state college tuition. But things just seemed more hopeless if Bull never got off the farm. And that the fact that he thought that made him feel like an elitist snob. It shouldn’t matter to him if Bull went to school or not. But something about it did. 

“Want to get the keys from Nix so we can fish?” Johnny asked, figuring he had to say something soon. 

“A little surprised you don’t have ‘em already,” Bull answered as he closed his footlocker. 

“Fuck it, let’s go. Hashey and Garcia are big boys they can sort their own shit out,” Johnny pulled himself up off the bed. 

Johnny knew they had fixed nothing, that there was so much hanging out there but if Bull was content to leave it where it was, then so was he. They could pick this summer up where it was and ignore the way the last one ended and that was just fine with Johnny. 

~

Bull had been packing his stuff, or procrastinating packing his stuff when Johnny opened the door to the cabin. And he had this weird look on his face. His eyes were wide like he couldn’t process what was happening around him. And Bull’s first thought was that nobody else had better be kissing Johnny, because Bull remembered his face looking a little like that when Bull had pulled away. But that couldn’t be what was happening, Johnny didn’t talk about that. It stood to reason he wasn’t going to go do it with anyone else. 

“You ok?” Bull asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” 

“Huh,” Johnny turned to look at him, “Uh, yeah no, nothing so exciting.” Johnny rubbed the back of neck before he answered, “Nix just offered me a job.” 

“And that’s bad?” Bull was still trying to get his footing here, but then by the look of it so was Johnny. 

“No,” and that answer seemed a little frantic. “I mean, no, it’s great. I just never thought about it before.” 

Bull sat down on his bed because clearly this was going to need some unpacking and his bus didn’t leave for hours so might as well give Johnny the attention he needed. “So what did you tell him?” 

Johnny slumped back against the door frame, “Nix can be pretty persuasive, I’m pretty sure I’d agreed to it before I really understood what was happening.” 

“So you’re having second thoughts?” Bull really hoped he wasn’t because if Johnny didn’t take this job then he probably wouldn’t see Johnny again. 

Johnny walked over and sat next to Bull, he was looking at his hands when he spoke. “I’m not really sure I’m cut out for this.” 

“Yeah, you are.” If there was one thing that Bull knew, it was that. “I mean I don’t know if Nix is, but you are. I mean it’s got to mean something that he asked you, right?” 

Johnny shook his head. “No, they are asking everyone. I guess Winters is taking over next year, and they are trying to fill as many of the open counsellor spots as they can, so Sobel doesn’t get to fill ‘em. I mean, it figures they are asking Welsh because he’s their best friend but they asked Speirs too. I mean fuck, they even asked Buck and you know him and Winters don’t exactly get on. It’s just about the epic struggle between Sobel and Winters, and I don’t mind helping but it doesn’t mean I’m cut out for this.” 

“Did the others agree too?” Bull asked. 

“Yeah, Welsh did without missing a beat and Speirs is plotting something so he agreed. Buck’s got to think about it, what with baseball and all. I mean it’s something I want to help with, I think Winter’s could really turn this thing around, get at Sobel’s power and make this place even more fun.” Johnny trailed off so Bull decided to pick up where he left off. 

“I think you’re right, I think Winter’s is just what this place needs. But I think you’re wrong about not being qualified. You’ve been a great cabin leader, you never let us go zombie on our own, and we’ve never been written up. You’re firm but fair, I’m just disappointed we won’t have you as a cabin leader anymore.” And Bull meant that, it would be a whole different thing without his friend. “I mean, I don’t know who they’ll pick to run this place, but they won’t be as good as you.” 

“I get to choose,” Johnny cleared his throat. “They told us that when they promoted us. Speirs, Buck, and I get to pick our replacements from our fellow campers.” 

Now it was Bull’s turn to look surprised, he could feel his eyes widen without his permission. 

“Yeah, and here’s the part where I drag you down with me.” Johnny clapped his hand on Bull’s leg. “Fuck knows who Buck will pick, his options are shit and we know Speirs is going to pick Grant. And I’m asking you, just you. I didn’t shop this job around to five other people before I asked you. In fact, I kinda already signed you up for it, so just take the job and don’t make me look like a jackass. I mean, Winters still has to ok it, but when he does try not to make me look like a jackass.” 

“You know, no one else in this cabin is going to like taking orders from me,” Bull asked, but he didn’t turn him down because it meant something in a way that he couldn’t explain that Johnny had picked him. 

“Fuck ‘em. If they even come back next year, they’ll do what you tell ‘em too or they’ll have problems with me. Fuck that shit, I’m not-” 

And whatever Johnny was not, Bull will never know because he chose that moment to lean in and kiss him again. And this time since Johnny’s lips were parted Bull dared to tease his tongue against them. For all his inaction the time before, Johnny seemed to snap to it this time. Johnny’s tongue came out to meet his before he guided both of them back into Bull’s mouth. Johnny’s hand cupped Bull’s cheek and he felt like such a girl because that did something to him. He was about to break the kiss so that they could maybe clarify some of this, but then Johnny started to lean into him. So Bull decided to just to go with it and they could sort it out later. 

“Martin,” someone called outside the cabin. 

Johnny made a disgusted noise as he pulled away. “I’m going to go sort this shit out and then we are going to talk about this. So don’t leave, fuck don’t even move.” 

And Bull had meant to do just that but by the time the bus call came, Johnny still wasn’t back so Bull had no choice but to shoulder his duffel and head home. Though he was slightly more sure of himself then he was last summer.


	5. Chapter Five

Johnny fought the urge to show some sign of outward frustration and tried to school his features into something that wasn’t frightening as he weaved his way through all the parents dropping off their kids. But he was a man on a mission. He weaved through camp trying to avoid anyone that looked like they might ask him a question. When he got to cabin two he took a deep breath through his nose and squared his shoulders before he walked up the steps. Bull was inside already in a white tank top and green cargo shorts. And Johnny was self aware enough this summer to admit that he looked good, but that wasn’t what he was here for. Well, he wanted it to be, but they were going to talk about this first. 

“Well if it isn’t my favorite cabin leader,” Johnny at least had pushed the screen door open before he spoke. “Who has the annoying habit of kissing people and bolting.” 

Bull who was making the campers beds didn’t bother to look up from what he was doing. “Not people, just you and don’t remember you complaining at the time.” 

Johnny crossed his arms over him chest; he was not going to let Bull distract him with monogamy even if it did cure the gnawing feeling in his stomach. “Really? You are choosing now to play it cute?” 

“Well, how would you like me to play it?” Bull actually had the gaul to sound annoyed. 

“You don’t have to play it, that’s the whole point. We don’t play it,” Johnny answered and he knew he was starting to get that tone that his mom always pointed out. 

“So the silent treatment all summer? I’m just supposed ignore that?” Bull tossed a pillow firmly against the headboard of the bed he was working on, the force caused it to bounce back into the center of the bed. Bull made a frustrated noise before he picked up the pillow and placed it at the top of the bed and smoothed out the pillow case. 

“I don’t have your phone number and I was pretty sure you didn’t want me emailing Winters to ask for it,” Johnny snapped. 

Bull’s shoulder drew up sharply, but Johnny watched as they relaxed like he was talking himself down, trying not to start a fight with Johnny. Johnny appreciated that, because if he started a fight with Johnny, Johnny would finish it and make it ugly. He wouldn’t be able to help it. 

“Yeah, you did Johnny. You had it all year. I slipped it in your shave kit before I left,” Bull sounded sad as he spoke. 

And for his part, Johnny felt like he’d had the wind knocked out of him. “I did?” 

Bull nodded and he looked like he was going to say something else but because it was move in day and universe hated him, a voice came echoing down the sidewalk. 

“And this up here is cabin two, you guys are lucky you got put in Bull’s cabin. He’s a really solid guy and I mean that literally. He could probably take a run at wall and knock it down,” Luz snickered at his own joke. “But he’s great, one of the nicest guys here.” 

And Johnny felt bad for how jealous he’d been over Luz’s popularity the year before. He turned to watch Luz climb the stairs to the cabin with three new boys trailing after him. As Johnny had predicted, Bull was the only one from his cabin to return. 

“Hey Bull,” Luz said as he opened the door. “I found these boys looking lost in the parking lot and I figured I’d bring ‘em your way. I’ve got one around here too somewhere but I haven’t found him.” 

“Wow lost a camper already Luz?” Bull asked and to look at him you’d never know that he and Johnny had been having what amounted to a fight. Johnny hoped he looked that good, but he doubted it. 

Luz shrugged. “What can you do, I’m sure he’ll be fine. Well, you boys have fun. I’ll let Bull take over and get you settled.” 

As Luz began to leave, three heads turned almost in unison to face Bull. They looked young to Johnny, in a way that he hoped he never had and in a way he couldn’t remember Bull looking. They seemed to be a mixed bag personality wise. The boy with dark hair and a scar in his eyebrow was a scraper, Johnny knew how to spot one of his own. The blond boy next to him who was going to be bald by the time he was eighteen, looked like he was plotting something and as long as he didn’t get caught, Johnny was going to leave him to it. The last one looked like mama’s pride and joy. In fact, she’d probably fixed his hair for him this morning. Well that was good, Bull needed at least one good kid. 

“Welcome to cabin two,” Bull said, clapping his hands together. “I’m Bull Randleman and this is Counselor Martin. He used be the cabin leader in this cabin.” 

“That’s right,” Johnny said, trying to fall into the role. The use of his last name, something Bull had given up long ago, helped. “And I left Bull in charge, so you are in good hands. And I will see you guys when you come out to the lake to fish.” He tried to smile as he left the cabin and he tried to walk slowly while there was a chance the boys might still see him. But once he passed cabin one, he started running. He hit his cabin door at a run and stuttered for a moment since the fucker opened out. He threw the lid of his footlocker open and dug around it until he found his shave kit. He violently unzipped it and dumped the contents out on his bedspread. Nothing that he hadn’t packed and it was at that moment he noticed the zipped pocket on the side where he kept bandages. He unzipped and there with the bandages he hadn’t touched in a year was a scrap of paper with Bull’s phone number and an email address. 

“Son of bitch,” Martin yelled as he tossed shave kit across the room, showering the floor with bandaids. 

“Get that out of your system?” Johnny turned to see Speirs standing in the doorway. 

“Yeah,” Johnny nodded stuffing Bull’s number in pocket and running his fingers through his hair. 

“Good because Winters needs us all up at the caf for a meeting before dinner.” Speirs gestured over his shoulder. 

“Yeah, I’ll be right there,” Johnny said, looking at the mess he’d made fingers still pressed against Bull’s phone number in his pocket. 

~

Bull wasn’t at all surprised that when he finally found Johnny, he was on the fishing dock. Johnny had been sneaking out of movie nights as long as Bull could remember. In fact he’d probably been avoiding the dock hoping that something would come up so he’d have stop looking. He’d been avoiding Johnny, if he was honest. He’d spent most of the year feeling a certain kind of way about him. Now that he hadn’t found the paper Bull had slipped in his bag, things were more complicated. And honestly Bull hadn’t wanted to fight with Johnny again. But there comes a time when you have face something, even if scares you. So he dug in and walked down the dock and sat down next to Johnny. 

“So you’re actually talking to me now?” Johnny sounded bitter and Bull figured he had a right. 

Bull was going to save time and not bring up that he hadn’t actually stopped talking to Johnny because he knew what Johnny meant. “It’s hard with my three little ducklings following me around. That’s not an excuse, but I’d appreciate it if you’d let me use it as one.” 

Johnny snorted. “Ok, fair enough. I’ll let you have it.” 

“Thanks,” Bull replied, still not turning to face Johnny, opting for the water instead. 

“I really didn’t know I had your number,” Johnny mentioned. 

“I know, I could see it on your face. You’ve always had a fairly lousy poker face,” Bull agreed. 

“Says you. I won a fair amount of money off Nix last night.” Johnny was kidding, trying to lighten the mood. 

Bull decided not to let him do that. “Well, it’s lousy with me then. Would you have called me if you’d known you had it?” 

“No,” and at least Johnny was honest. “But you knew that already. That’s what text messages are for. I’d probably have sent you a long ass rambling text and waited like a chicken shit for you to call.” 

Bull nodded. He’d expected something like that.

“Don’t look disappointed, you know what I’m like.” Bull could see in his peripheral vision that Johnny was looking him. 

“That’s not…” Bull started trailing off for a moment before finding his thought. “I just, I wish you’d found the number is all. It would have been nice to hear from you this year.” 

“Just nice?” Johnny asked, once again teasing. 

Bull shook his head, but this time he let Johnny change the mood. “Hey, fish for fish or fish for compliments. You can’t do both at the same time.” 

“Well, we’ll have all summer because this summer, I have keys.” Johnny picked them off the keys and jiggled them for effect. 

“And I also have three kids to look after,” Bull reminded him. “Who I should probably get back too.” Bull got up and had actually gotten a few steps away before he heard Johnny call his name. When he turned around, he hadn’t expected Johnny to be standing right behind him. They were almost nose to nose. Bull didn’t know how much longer that was going to last, his mother kept insisting he had another growth spurt in him. 

“You probably don’t have to go back yet,” Johnny said and Bull was about to insist that he did but Johnny moved closer and maybe Johnny had a point. 

Johnny had to lean up ever so slightly to kiss him on his lips, so they came together kinda as a rush. Their noises bumped, but Bull didn’t mind so much. Johnny’s hands were on his shoulders so Bull placed his hands on Johnny's hips, pulling him closer. And just like that, they were making out. Tongues sliding in and out of each others mouths, Johnny’s fingers sliding along the base of his hairline, Johnny’s teeth catching at his lip, and Johnny’s hard dick against his leg when he stumbled a bit. 

Bull’s hand caught the railing, that was new this year. It’d been installed for safety. The thought made Bull laugh, because this was almost certainly not what they had in mind. 

Johnny seemed confused for a second, but then he got it. “Safety rails.” He shook his head, smiling. 

Bull shrugged and tilted his head, hoping Johnny would take the hint and come on back. He did, sliding into Bull’s personal space. The kiss was slower, more practiced and without the bump and stumble awkwardness of the the first try. Johnny stroked his fingers over Bull’s stomach before they came to hover on the waistband of Bull’s shorts. He felt himself flinch at the contact and he immediately regretted it because Johnny was moving his hand. 

“Not ok?” Johnny asked, his breath coming out cold against Bull’s wet lips. 

“It’s ok,” Bull replied and he hoped he sounded sure of himself rather than just breathless. 

It must have worked because Johnny’s fingers were back, bypassing the waistband altogether in favor of dancing lightly over Bull’s fly. Bull gasped, but this time Johnny didn’t take it as rejection. When Johnny’s hand cupped, Bull though his shorts, Bull ended up nipping at Johnny’s lip, earning a pleased noise from Johnny. When Johnny unzipped his fly, the noise sounded deafening to Bull’s ears. Johnny slipped his hand inside and for the first time Bull felt Johnny hesitate. Bull reached down and popped the button on his fly, hoping that giving Johnny more room to work with might help.

It seemed to because Johnny’s fingers were moving again. Toying with the elastic of Bull’s boxers before gaining enough courage, maybe, to slid inside. The first touch of Johnny’s fingers against his dick made him gasp and judging by the smile on his face, this pleased Johnny. Johnny struggled with the angle, causing him to make a frustrated sound. He removed his hand, spit in it, and tried again. This time time the slide was smoother and Johnny picked up on a rhythm faster. Bull’s fingers tightened their grip on the railing behind him so hard his knuckles turned white. He threw his head back, looking at the stars above his head as he got lost in the slip and slide of Johnny’s hand. When that tight feeling came over him, he bit his lip to keep from making a noise. Johnny’s brow furrowed. He reached out and pulled Bull’s lip down with his thumb, freeing Bull’s lip. When he came, the moan sounded like it had been punched out of him and Johnny looked pleased with himself. 

When his vision cleared, Bull beckoned for Johnny. “Your turn,” and damn if he didn’t sound a little breathless still. 

“You don’t have-” Johnny started, but Bull wasn’t having it. 

“Shut up and come here.” 

Johnny’s teeth dragged over his bottom lip as he moved back into Bull's personal space. Bull was a little nervous when he spit into his palm. Johnny’s shorts were looser than Bull’s and palm pressed flat against Johnny’s stomach he could slide his hand into Johnny’s pants. 

“Fuck,” Johnny swore when Bull’s fingers touched the base of his dick. His voice sounded rougher, like it had been scraped over rocks on its way to Bull’s ears. 

The angle was tricky. It was like doing it backwards and he knew his rhythm was sloppy at first. And he knew from experience that wasn’t going to work. So he took a deep breath and slowed his pace until found a rhythm. 

He knew he got it right when Johnny breathed out, “Shit,” against his ear. 

Bull tried to focus on his rhythm and speed it up when Johnny started chatting a mix of “Bull” and “Faster” against his neck. When Johnny came, his fingers dug into Bull's shoulders so hard he’d be surprised if they didn’t leave bruises.” 

“Fuck, Bull,” Johnny breathed out into the night and fuck if that didn’t do something to Bull. He held Johnny against him as Johnny came down from his orgasm. Knowing he’d do it as long as Johnny would let him.


	6. Chapter Six

Johnny was honestly not surprised that when he arrived at the small equipment shed that Bull was already sitting on the ground back leaning against the door. 

“So how was your day?” Johnny said as he unlocked the padlock. 

Bull didn’t even bother to move so maybe he wasn’t even in the mood to fish. This was serious. 

“Well, it was going pretty damn great right up until lunch when Perco went and bit a fucking consonsoler. How about you, any firing offenses in your day?” Bull pulled off his baseball cap and worked the bill between his hands. His green bandana was now tied around it. “Oh and insult to injury I’m a zombie now.” 

Johnny sighed and leaned his back against the door before sliding down so he was seated next to Bull. “Buck’s pretty much over it. I mean, he’d probably be over it faster if Nix would stop teasing him about turning into a vampire. But you know Nix, he has a short attention span; he’ll probably be onto something else in the morning. Like Buck’s not going to actually write anybody up or anything.” 

“I know,” Bull admitted, putting his hat back on his head.

“I am sorry about the zombie thing.” Johnny hoped he sounded sincere, he didn’t have a lot of practice at cheering people up. “But welcome to club, Speirs picked me off this morning before I even got my fucking coffee.” 

“Bastard,” Bull agreed. 

“Thank you,” Johnny nodded to his shoulder and Bull sighed. “You’re not letting this go anytime soon are you?”

“Well, it does kinda suck right out loud that I’m the only cabin leader whose kid bit someone.” Bull was looking down at his hands. 

“Fuck that, it doesn’t make you a shitty cabin leader.” Johnny really hoped he was clear on that. 

“Really?” Bull turned to look at Johnny. 

“Yeah,” Johnny stood his ground. “I mean, sure this week there will be some whispers. But next week, it be all about Grant because that Liebgott kid punched someone in the face. Kid’s a time bomb. I’d be surprised if he didn’t blow before the week is over.” 

“Wow, and you thought that would make me feel better?” Bull asked. 

“I’m sorry. I just don’t see this as the big deal that you do.” Johnny shrugged. 

“Well, I guess that’s one good thing.” Bull actually sounded relieved. 

“You didn’t think I was going to light into you over this did you?” Johnny was actually, because it really hadn't occurred to him to think he had any power over Bull. It hadn’t for a while. 

“Well, you did kinda recommend me for the job.” Bull made it sound like this was perfectly reasonable conclusion to come to. 

“I couldn’t give a good goddamn. Look, you don’t know half the shit that’s going on in our cabins. No one has any room to act like mother superior over this.” Johnny was actually kinda pissed. “Besides, we’ve all had our fuck ups - remember when Grant cracked his head open? And Buck gets to say shit about leadership skills after Muck and Penk ran buckwild his first year. And I’m pretty sure making out with you would be frowned upon. So none of us are pillars of leadership.”

Bull readjusted his hat, fighting the urge to smile.

Johnny smiled. “Did you get a sitter?” 

“Luz is running a focus group. He’s taking the possible promotion pretty seriously.” Bull was still all smiles. 

Johnny made a considering noise as he leaned over and pressed down on Bull’s legs, indicating that he should straighten his legs out. “Good for him. I plan on taking something else just as seriously.” 

Bull was probably going to try and say something witty but Johnny kissed him so they’ll never know. Because the angle was off center, Johnny threw his leg over Bull’s so he ended up sitting in his lap. It wasn’t as smooth as he wanted it to be since he ended up breaking the kiss. 

“Hello there,” Bull replied once Johnny was seated in his lap. A small smile tugged at the corner at the corner of Bull’s mouth. “Frowned upon huh.” 

“Like I said, I know a lot of shit you don’t,” Johnny laughed. “Are you sufficiently out of your funk   
now, or am I going to have to offer sexual favors?”

Bull laughed and it actually sounded genuine, so Johnny considered it a win regardless of if Bull turned him down. “I’m not going to say no to sexual favors.” 

Johnny just rolled his eyes, reached out, and cupped Bull’s check as he leaned back in for a kiss. Bull leaned forward and their noses bumped. Johnny exhaled a laugh against Bull’s lips before he kissed him. Johnny’s fingers traced the edge of Bull’s hair line at the back of his neck. Bull’s hands found their way to Johnny’s hips. His hand slipped down Bull’s neck, over his shoulder and down across his chest, telegraphing where this was heading. Giving Bull every opportunity to push him away. He didn’t though, his fingers actually gripped tighter at Johnny’s hips. So Johnny took that as permission to continue. His fingers slipped over Bull’s stomach before coming to rest on the hem of Bull’s shorts. Johnny pulled slightly to make his intentions known. Bull broke the kiss with a pop. 

“This ok?” Johnny asked, his voice coming out breathy as he repeated his actions with a firmer tug. 

Bull’s tongue darted out to wet his lips. He nodded before realizing words might be required. “Yeah, it’s ok.”

A wicked smirk tugged at the corner of Johnny’s mouth, as he popped the button on Bull’s shorts. As he worked the zipper down, the noise sounded extremely loud. Bull chose this moment to surge forward and kiss him again so Johnny fumbled getting Bull’s dick out. His multitasking skills were shit but he managed to get a rhythm going and chased Bull’s tongue. 

Bull broke the the kiss again, lips shining with spit, probably some of it Johnny’s, and that made Johnny want to kiss him again. 

“Come on, you too,” Bull said. And Johnny wasn’t certain what that meant but Bull’s explanation was to start working open Johnny’s fly. Johnny rolled his hips forward towards Bull and that seemed to play into Bull’s plan. Bull placed his hand around both their dicks. Johnny dropped his hand onto Bull’s hip, gasping as he leaned forward, his forehead resting on Bull’s shoulder. 

“Jesus, Bull,” Johnny moaned. The feeling of skin on skin as Bull jerked them off was overwhelming. His fingers pressed hard against Bull’s hip, his own hips thrusting up into Bull’s hand as he did so. He could feel himself shaking and when he slipped over the edge, he bit down hard on Bull’s cloth covered shoulder. And maybe that was what did it for Bull because he came, gasping over the edge. He leaned forward, burying his face against Johnny’s neck. His breath came out in warm, wet pants against Johnny’s neck. He felt the muscles in his neck tighten and Johnny as followed after him. 

They don’t say much after, both of them heading back to their responsibilities and Johnny isn’t entirely sure how he feels about that. 

~

“Winters must really like you,” Charles Grant said at he tossed his rolled up towel on the ground next to Bull. “Put all the fucking angels in your cabin.” Grant pulled his shirt off over his head and tossed on top of his towel. 

“I got a biter and you got a fighter. I figure that come out in the wash,” Bull said as Grant flopped down on the ground next to him. He leaned back and he adjusted his Dodgers hat on his head so it was covering his eyes. 

Bull scanned the water because at least someone should make sure no one drowned. Lord knows Nix wasn’t. 

“Probably,” Grant added absently. “Fortunately for me, Bill’s getting eighty percent of the blame.” 

“Seems fair,” Bull shrugged. He didn’t know the details but most of the time Bill seemed to be the one to start shit. 

“As long as they ask me back next year, I don’t really care,” Grant added. 

Bull nodded. He recalled a similar feel, when Perco went zombie. 

“You coming back next year?” Grant asked, ball cap still hiding his eyes from the sun. 

“If I can,” Bull said. “Harvest and all.” 

“Tab wants me to go on some grand road trip, but I think I’d rather have the money. We can always do something over spring break. Besides someone has to look after four. I kill you if you tell ‘em they are starting to grow on me.” 

And Bull doesn’t know why he asks what he asks next, because he’d always tried to respect Grant’s privacy and Grant had always returned that favor. 

“Are you two steady?”

Grant snorted. “Tab has a singular fascination with women.” 

“Oh.” Bull shrugged even though he knew Grant couldn’t see him. 

“Why?” The question made Bull jump because Grant was now sitting up, Dodgers hat up on his head again and looking entirely too awake for Bull’s liking. 

“It’s not-” Bull tried to bullshit but Grant was having none of it. 

“Oh come on don’t give me that. You asked for a reason.” Grant hit Bull’s leg with the back of his hand. “Come on, I’m not going to tell anyone, so spill who you got your eye on.” 

“It’s not..” Bull trailed off again, stammering a bit. 

Grant looked a little disappointed but then added, “Look, you should tell someone about it. Maybe try Martin or…” And then Grant’s eyes got comically wide. Bull ducked his head because he knew something had given him away. 

“Huh, I didn’t think he liked people,” Grant said, but he didn’t sound surprised enough for Bull’s liking. “I suppose congratulations are in order, I didn’t really think you could keep a secret like that at this camp.” 

Bull shook his head, trying to clear his head to form a response. And he was reassured by the fact that Grant just seemed to wait him out. 

“It’s not really like that,” Bull started. “ Well, it’s like something, I just don’t know what it is. We never talk about it. Ee always say we are and then-“

Grant laughed. 

And Bull thought that that was fair. He wasn’t even going to try and defend them. 

“So tell ‘im you want to know what the fuck is going on or your pants are staying on. And then you know, actually follow through on the threat. I mean fuck, you have a cabin full of fifteen year olds. How do you have time for a complicated relationship?”

“Well that’s part of the problem,” Bull admitted. 

Grant nodded. “Look, I know it’s a shit position because no one wants to be the needy one that starts begging for a definition and labels but someone has too. And it looks like it’s going to have to be you because you have clearly been chewing on this.”

Bull nodded. “I have choices to make and if I’m goin’ make ‘em with him in mind-“

“Yeah,” Grant agreed, “you have to figure this out. You can’t pick a college for him if you’re not sure about this.”

“I’m not going to go to college,” Bull replied and he could tell Grant was about to say something but thought better of it. “But he does.”

“Well, then you could be anywhere,” Grant added, seeming to decide that that was the safest thing to say. 

“I’d always figured I’d stay with the farm,” Bull said regretfully. 

“That’s a big ask,” Grant replied.

“Huge ask,” Bull agreed. 

“But the bitch of the thing is that you don’t know the answer until you ask.” Grant said. “Martin may be more then willing to go to college out of state and you’re going to have no idea until you ask.” When Bull didn’t say anything, Grant pressed on. “Martin knows what your plans are right?”

Bull nodded. 

“Well then, maybe it doesn’t bother him and maybe he’s just never thought about it but you won’t know unless you ask.” Grant took a deep breath after he finished. 

“Who knew that Charles Grant had relationship wisdom,” Bull said, shaking his head. 

“Hey man, all you hand to do was ask.” Grant clapped him on the shoulder before he pushed himself up, probably ready to go check on the boys.

Bull nodded knowing that he was going to have to do a lot of that pretty soon and it made him feel needy in the worst way, but Grant was right. Nothing was going to get any better if he didn’t.


	7. Chapter Seven

He was sure when it started mostly because he’d been trying not to be overly emotional about the whole thing. But whatever it was that was going on, Johnny was now positive that this was not just in his head. Bull was avoiding him and Johnny had really tried to blame it on their schedule, but that wasn’t going to hold now that Bull was packing up his fishing tackle just because Johnny had started walking down the dock. 

“The fuck?” Johnny deadpanned because honestly it had been a long fucking day. And he didn’t want to deal with this, he wanted to fish and maybe make out with Bull but since that clearly wasn’t going to happen now, they were going to have this out. 

But just because Johnny was now suddenly spoiling for a fight didn’t mean that Bull was going to give him one. Other then the fact that he’d flinched slightly, Bull had giving no indication that he was going to suddenly start talking to Johnny. 

“You’re just not going to fuckin’ talk to me?” Johnny had to fight the urge to put his hands on his hips and fix Bull with a glare. He probably ended up glaring anyway, but it was a reflex. 

Bull sighed like he’d failed at something. “Yeah I am because everytime we talk, we don’t just end up talking. We end up doing other stuff and…”

Bull trailed off and made a sick feeling settle into the pit of Johnny’s stomach. “You don’t like it?” 

“That’s not the point,” Bull snapped. “It doesn’t matter if I like it if I don’t know what it is. Like I get it if you want to mess around, find a way to let off some steam over the summer. But I think I don’t want to be apart of it anymore. I want to be apart of something and since this isn’t...if this isn’t that then I don’t think I can be apart of it anymore.” 

At that moment Johnny knew it was desperately important to say something, anything to keep Bull from walking away. But he couldn’t. He wasn’t that guy full of sappy love songs and weepy poetry. And he’d always figured that this was perfect because Bull didn’t strike him as that kind of guy either. Knowing where you stood though was much more practical and Johnny should have been able to give Bull that. But he couldn’t. He just stood there as Bull awkwardly moved around him and headed up the dock.

The problem was that Bull played a long game and this whole time Johnny Martin had been flying by the seat of his pants. But now that he was thinking about it, he felt like he was drowning. His head was a mess of thoughts - college and distance and the heavy weight of what it was they were doing. And what it had come to mean to Johnny. And it had come to mean a lot. 

He wasn’t just messing around. If he ever had been, he wasn’t now. But he was pretty sure it had never been that, he just hadn’t stopped to think about what it was. 

But he knew, he’d probably always known. 

But knowing it and expressing it were two different things and Johnny was almost certain that he would blow the latter when the time came. And he was self aware enough to know that time shouldn’t be now. He needed to think this over, let the last remainders of his anger dissipate and figure out all the words he needed to say. 

In all honesty, he wanted to be alone when he got back to the cabin but of course he wasn’t so lucky. Sitting on the cabin steps changing the flint in his lighter, was probably the person that could be the least amount of helpful in a situation like this, because however Ronald Speirs had managed to convince Carwood Lipton that the sun shined of of his ass, Johnny was pretty sure it didn’t involve a whole lot of talking. 

“Don’t you have somewhere better to be?” and Johnny didn’t care if he sounded like an asshole; Speirs was’t the type to get his feelings hurt. 

“Winters kidnapped Lip, so not really,” Speirs said, eyes glued to his lighter as he put it back together. 

“You didn’t think to help him out?” Johnny said, sitting down on the steps hoping there might at least be a cigarette in his future. 

“I’m not allowed in the kitchens.” Speirs clicked his lighter causing it to create a flame. 

And Johnny didn’t say anything then because the last person he wanted to talk about was Sobel. 

Speird tapped two cigarettes out of the pack that had been sitting next to him on the stairs. “He was looking for you too, but you’d disappeared again.”

“Fuck you mean ‘again’?” Johnny snapped. “I fucking work my ass off around here.” 

“No, immediately following dinner,” Speirs said around his cigarette as he turned his head, cupping his hands towards the flame of his lighter. 

Johnny decided to let Speirs have that one and didn’t add anything as Speirs offered him the flame. Because he didn’t give a shit because what did it matter? Dike dissapered for fuckin’ days. 

“Least I don’t come sneaking in while everyone is asleep,” Johnny offered, because one dig couldn’t hurt and they had woken him up the night before. 

“Well, that’s only because Bull can’t sneak out in the middle of the night,” Speirs said as he pulled himself up off the steps. 

And of course Speirs had noticed because the creepy bastard noticed everything.   
“I don’t give a shit but piece of advice, fucking do it or don’t do it but it’s gotta chap Bull’s ass that you hardly go near him during daylight.” 

And of all the things Johnny had heard that day, that was the thing that stung the most. 

*~*

Bull was hardly surprised that Johnny found him the next morning, because he was right where you’d expect him to be, on the dock with pole in hand. And this was simply because he wanted to be found. He’d meant what he said the night before but that didn’t mean he liked the way it sounded. 

“I’m an asshole,” Johnny said, sitting down next to Bull. 

“Go on,” Bull said, but he barely covered the laughter in this voice. 

“I think of myself as gay,” Johnny started and Bull realized that this was the real serious conversation that Bull was sure Johnny had planned to avoid. “I don’t know that I think of myself as anything, so I wasn’t ashamed. I just don’t like people knowing my business. But that could make you feel like shit.” 

“Well, it didn’t make me feel great,” Bull added. “And I think you are overestimating the level of give a shit that exists in this camp. I don’t know if you’ve noticed that pretty much everyone has their own shit going on.” 

Johnny shook his head, smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. 

“So tomorrow can we try for a change of pace? Not being weird as fuck around each other?” Bull asked generally trying to keep his tone teasing and light. 

“Why the fuck not,” Johnny said, shrugging his shoulders. 

Bull chuckled as he started to reel in the line. When he started, he had honestly meant to head back to the cabin and when Johnny got up too he thought that’s what they were going to do. But clearly Johnny had other ideas because he give Bull a firm shove in the center of his chest to push him back against the railing of the dock. 

“I think I can do a bit better in the apologie department,” Johnny said, and whether he meant it to sound sexy or not, fucking hell it did. 

“Yeah,” Bull stuttered, as Johnny started working over his belt buckle. 

“Pretty sure,” Johnny mumbled a bit this time. And his confidence seemed to have slipped a bit and Bull was about say something when he dropped to his knees. 

And “Shit.”

“Well, I might be,” Johnny allowed, “but I’m going to give it my all.” 

Bull tried to swallow so he could form words and be reassuring when Johnny started to pull his dick out of his boxers. He got this determined look on his face before he leaned in. He started out by giving the head of Bull’s dick a kiss. Bull tightened his grip onto the dock railing behind him. Bull raked teeth over his bottom lip and almost bit down when Johnny licked the full length of Bull’s dick. 

“Johnny, oh shit!”

Bull arched his back, letting out a broken moan. Johnny’s fingers gripped the back of Bull’s pulling him in closer as he start to suck. Bull’s hands came to rest on Johnny’s head. His blunt fingernails pressed into Johnny’s head before his finger ran through Johnny's curly hair in a way he hoped provided encouragement. Johnny’s mouth was hot and wet around Bull’s cock. His tongue ran over the whole length of Bull’s dick and swirled around the head. 

“Holy shit.” It was almost too much but not enough at the same time. His head tipped back and as he stared at the sky to try and get some of his control back. He’s pretty sure he can see every star in the sky and his breathy moans sound so loud to his ears that he's sure the people up the hill can hear him. But his cock was in Johnny's mouth so he couldn’t give a rat’s ass. Johnny moaned or something around Bull’s dick and that’s what caused him to feel it in his stomach, that white blinding feeling that pulled the air out of his lungs. 

“Holy fuck, Johnny-”

Bull swore again and he felt his legs tense before they relaxed and he had to grip the railing hard because they felt like they are going to give out underneath him. But Johnny was right there, a firm presence against him, holding him up and making sure he didn’t face plant onto the dock. Johnny’s lips were full, swollen, and are shining wet and Bull wanted to kiss him. He was worried that might not be ok, that Johnny might not be into that. But he couldn’t help the moment was so open and raw and since his head was spinning so fast he couldn’t form words, he leaned down and licked his way into Johnny’s mouth. His mouth tasted sharp and bitter but it didn't matter because everything felt so good, like lighting dancing under his skin. Johnny moaned, pushing them both back into the railing. He felt Johnny’s dick hard against his leg. Johnny’s hips thrust forward causing him to moan into Bull’s mouth. Bull pulled back and spat into his hand. It was more difficult than he thought it would be to get Johnny’s pants open and out of frustration Johnny ended up having to do it for him. It occurred to him that he’d never been this close to Johnny when they did this before. He’d never felt Johnny’s breath against his face. And he really wished that he had thought about this before. He’s also watched the way Johnny face twists as an orgasm washes over him. But something told him he’ll get to see it again.


	8. Chapter Eight

It was probably not one of his smoother moments, but it had been a whole school year and this summer was going to crazy. Tonight was different. Tonight they had no responsibilities and so Johnny planed to make the most of it and jumping Bull and getting down to business was all part of that plan. 

“Fuck, sorry,” Johnny muttered against Bull’s lips because he was pretty sure that he just backed Bull into the footboard of the bed. 

Bull smirked against Johnny’s lips. “You’re good.” It takes some maneuvering and Johnny’s foot got stepped on but they managed to both end up sitting on the bed. 

“Missed you,” Johnny said in a rush because he wasn’t a sappy love sick idiot, but it was true and he did feel that maybe Bull needed to hear that. 

He felt Bull smile against him lips so he must have been right. As he pushed Bull toward the mattress, he was enveloped in the earthy smell of Bull. And he was into that, that he got to enjoy it, but his goals involve nudity because he had issued some strongly worded threats to get this time alone. So damn it, they were getting naked. And he’d made sure Bull knew that when he pulled off his hiking boots before they got started. And Bull seemed to be on board with the plan because he’d gotten his shoes off pretty fast. He pushed his hands under the faded fabric of last year’s camp shirt. He felt Bull’s stomach contract under his fingers as Bull held his breath. He tipped his head slightly, waiting until he felt Bull let the air out of his lungs. It’s not graceful, getting Bull out of his shirt, but they manage it. Bull’s belt went easier but despite Johnny’s best efforts it wasn’t sexy. When he got to Bull’s fly there was more holding of breath and so Johnny kissed him hard as a distraction. He was about to pull back and admire all his hard work when he felt Bull run his hand down Johnny’s chest. Johnny’s bit Bull’s lip when he felt him cup his dick through his shorts. 

Bull’s eyes were wide when Johnny pulled back. “You too.” Bull tugged on his shirt to help make his point. 

Johnny pulled his shirt off over his head and tossed it somewhere behind him. He was pretty sure it hit the floor, but he honestly didn’t care. It took some doing to undo his belt because he was looking at Bull the whole time. Johnny’s belt hit the floor with a loud thud. He had to pull away from Bull to get his pants off. When he looked back, he locked on blue eyes that looked a little uncomfortable. Johnny swallowed around the lump in his throat, Bull’s nerves seeming to transfer to him as well. He pulled his pants the rest of the way off, shucking them and tossing them on the floor. His boxers followed with a determined haste. 

A nervous smile tugged at the corner of Bull’s lips. “Took for fuckin’ ever to get you naked.” 

Johnny smiled at the comment, relieved that they aren’t going to have to have some fucking heart to heart or something. He let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding when he felt Bull’s hand running up his length. Bull seemed to have a plan for this because he was pretty insistent in how he was trying to get maneuvered onto the bed. He ended up with Bull above him, in between his legs, his hands running over Johnny’s knees. Though his motions are slow, it was very clearly telegraphing what he was about to attempt. Bull licked his bottom lip before he leaned forward and repeated the the motion along the length of Johnny’s dick. Johnny’s hips rose up following the motion before he could help himself. He forced himself to hold them steady against the mattress but his will was sorely tested when Bull swirled his tongue around the head of Johnny’s dick. Johnny was surprised how turned on he was when Bull placed what can best be described as teasing kisses along his dick. He’d seen a girl do it in porn once and he was surprised that it drove him a little bit crazy - the barely there touch. When Bull reached his balls, Johnny’s hips actually start to shake. It was so hard to hold them down when Bull sucked on one of his balls while he worked his hand up and down Johnny’s shaft. Bull found a rhythm he liked, thumb swiping over the wet head of Johnny’s dick and then back down while still sucking on Johnny’s balls. 

Johnny’s hands seem to have a mind of their own as they drifted up to run over Bull’s short hair. He was looking for something to hold on to, to ground him in the heat that was burning though him. He knew he was speaking. Words were floating past his lips - swear words and praise in a stream of consciousness that he couldn’t seem to stop. 

There was a wet popping noise when Bull came up for air, Bull’s hands coming to rest on Johnny’s hips as he pressed down firmly to help Johnny fight the battle he was barely winning. Johnny looked into Bull’s eyes and the eye contact was almost too much as Bull started to take Johnny’s dick into his mouth. 

Johnny’s moan was pulled forcefully, scraping its way out of Johnny’s throat. His hand drifted down from Bull’s head to his left shoulder, pressing down before sliding over the joint and onto the plains of Bull’s back. “Fuck, Bull-” and more encouragement was cut off with another deep moan. 

Bull made a humming noise, the vibration lit nerve endings Johnny didn’t even know he had. He opened eyes that he didn’t know he’d closed. He watched as Bull rocked his hips into the bed below him. The eye contact seems to do something for Bull because he picked up speed and Johnny knew if he didn’t slow this back down, it would be over before he wanted it to be. 

Johnny started pulling at Bull, hoping he’d get the message because he could not actually form words at this moment. Bull seemed to get the hint, pulling off and replacing his mouth with his hand on Johnny’s dick. He pulled Bull forward and kissed him. Johnny bit Bull’s lip when Bull’s fingers brushed over the head of his dick. 

Bull’s body thrust into Johnny’s when his teeth made contact. Johnny grazed his teeth over Bull’s full bottom lip. His fingers danced along Bull’s neck in what he hoped was a comforting gesture as he resumed his kisses. Bull enthusiastically returned the kiss. Johnny closed his eyes, leaning into Bull. He wanted to be touching as much of Bull as he could, knowing it would be a while before they’d have this much time to work with. The strength that Bull held him with was dizzying as their tongues chased around their mouths. Johnny moaned into Bull’s mouth when he felt Bull’s teeth nipping at his bottom lip. The need for air was what finally caused Johnny to pull back, both he and Bull panting for breath. 

“Want to try something?” Johnny meant for it to be statement but it ended up coming out more like a question. 

Bull nods even though he had no idea what he was agreeing to. Johnny reached around him to get to his pillow. He felt around in the pillowcase until he found the thing he’d stashed when he got there that morning. He made a triumphant noise when he withdrew his hand from the pillowcase holding the lube. He watched Bull’s eyes widen but he didn’t protest, so Johnny figured he was not opposed. And when Johnny leaned into Bull, he followed him so he was leaning back against the ratty bedspread the camp provided. Their dicks lined up and for a moment Johnny got lost in the feeling, rocking his hips forward into Bull and the feeling of Bull thrusting back up into him. 

Johnny finally got control of himself enough to stop and, as one of his fingers traced over Bull’s nipple he asked, “Do you want to fuck me?” Bull’s eyes widen again but that was probably because of the blunt question. But Bull was nodding along shortly after and agreeing in a voice that was still a little raspy from sucking Johnny’s dick. And he was still nodding when Johnny asked if he’d like to do it like this, mimicking what it would be like when he was riding Bull. “Like that idea?” Johnny asked because he was partly relieved because most of the time that he’d thought about this, he’d thought about it like this. 

“Do you want to do the honors?” Johnny asked and even though Bull moaned at the question, Bull shook his head. 

“Don’t want to hurt you,” Bull whispered, and that was a sweet thought but from what Johnny had read on the internet, that was going to be pretty hard to avoid. 

Johnny squirted what was probably too much lube out onto his fingers, but he figured there’s probably no such thing at this point because Bull’s bigger than his fingers. He got the first finger in there pretty quick, he always tried to get that awkward starting out feeling over with as quickly as he could. Bull was encouragingly stroking over his legs and whispering encouraging things that Johnny couldn’t comprehend, but the sound of Bull’s voice was soothing on its own. So he tried to focus his attention on that sound as he worked a second, third, and fourth finger inside himself. That was more than he did at home but figured better safe than sorry. He wiped the excess lube that had collected in his palm onto Bull’s dick and then a little more and the moan that Bull let out made Johnny feel smug. When Johnny lined himself up, he heard that deep moan again and it spurred him on. 

Johnny barely had the head inside him and he was already wincing because Bull felt so much thicker than his fingers. He held onto Bull’s arms to steady himself, as Bull started telling him to take his time and how hot he looked. Once he’d gotten used to the stretch, he tried to rock himself down onto Bull’s dick and he knew his face must not look sexy because Bull was practically cooing at him at this point. But he took deep breaths and tried to remind himself that the first time he’d had his finger in him, it had hurt. But he got there, his ass resting against Bull’s hips, through sheer force of will and Bull’s calming words. He braced himself, hands flat on Bull’s chest, as he worked his hips up for the first time. The wet noise he heard turned him on in a way he couldn’t explain. Each time he pulled himself up, it got easier and he started to pick up speed. 

The rooms was awash of his and Bull’s mixing moans as Bull’s hands came up to rest on Johnny’s hips. There was a small part of him that he’d never felt before that wanted to give Bull control that wondered what it would feel like to have those strong hands gripping his hips, holding him down as Bull fucked into him. It’d never felt this good, not when they were sneaking around trying to find some hidden spot and certainly not when he was in his bedroom trying to muffle his noises. Johnny felt like he was on fire; like he was burning from the inside out. 

At the same time, he could feel his legs start to give out and pulled in his thigh that was getting harder to ignore. “Need to switch,” Johnny said, his voice coming out in pants. Bull was confused for a second because Johnny stopped, but he seemed to get the idea. It was not as smooth as porn made it seem but they managed to get Johnny on his back and Bull above him without leaving the bed. Johnny lifted his legs so that they were resting on Bull’s hips as Bull thrust back inside him. It wasn’t as slow as maybe it should have been, but the pleasure was overriding the pain at this point because the feeling of Bull’s weight on top of him was something that was going to become a thing for Johnny. 

“Fuck,” Johnny moaned like the word was being pulled out of him. “There...right...fuck...there.” Johnny fucked his hips into the spit wet hand that Bull had wrapped around his dick. 

“Feel good?” Bull asked and Johnny wasn’t sure if he was trying to sexy or concerned at this point because it turning Johnny the fuck on. 

Maybe it was the care in Bull’s voice or the firm grip he had on his hips, but Johnny could feel his muscles tighten. Seconds after the words clear Bull’s lips, Johnny was spilling all over Bull’s hand on his chest. Johnny felt wrung out and like his bones had left his body as he fell back against the sheets. 

Bull was barely holding it together as he shook with the effort to hold himself still. 

“Come on,” Johnny breathed. “Come on,” Johnny repeated, pulling Bull forward. Bull’s hips seemed to snap forward on their own accord. Johnny pulled himself together so that he could pull himself up so he could get his lips on Bull’s lips. When Johnny licked his way into Bull’s mouth, he felt Bull shake apart in his arms as he came deep inside Johnny. 

“Fuck,” Bull whispered. 

‘“Yeah, we did,” Johnny replied. 

And Bull was still too deep in a haze of sex to call Johnny on the pun and that Johnny considered a win. 

 

*~*

Bull swallowed around the lump in his throat as he held his arm up to wave back at Shiffy as the bus pulled away. Perco was waving from the otherside of the bus as well. He’d put these boys on this bus twice now and it was significantly harder this time. He walked back to his cabin knowing that there would most likely be work there waiting for him. He was surprised when he rounded the corner and found Johnny sitting on the steps. He was far too serious for Bull’s liking and it made his chest hurt a little thinking about the talk that they were going to have to have. 

“I have to ask you a question, mostly because it’s starting to get a little embarrassing that I don’t know the answer. Everyone keeps looking at me like I should know if you are coming back next year and I realized that I should.” 

“You make it sound like the decision is completely mine,” Bull replied. 

“Look, Lip and I will fucking stage a sit in if we have to. We’ll get you the job but before I go through all that bullshit I kinda need to make sure you want the job.” Johnny looked certain, like he’d already worked this from all angles and that touched Bull in a way that surprised him. He knew Johnny would fight for him but seeing that still made Bull feel more certain in a way. 

Bull already knew his answer. He’d been talking to his parents a lot since knowing that under their current arrangement, he was going to be spending his last summer in Georgia, but he knew he wasn’t ready to give this up. His mother had been thrilled by the idea, and Bull suspected that it all had something to do with still wanting him to go to college. Everyday not spent on the farm was a win in her eyes. 

“If you want me to come back next year, I can come back next year.” Bull smiled because Johnny’s face had brightened considerably. 

“Finally, they can stop giving me those sad looks every time someone brings it up,” Johnny said, giving Bull’s shoulder a firm squeeze. 

“Why didn’t you just ask?” Bull questioned. 

Johnny shrugged and looked away when he answered. “Didn’t know what you’d decided…” He trailed off for a beat and before he continued. “So if I was going to grovel,” Johnny had clearly decided that he was going to turn this into a joke, “I didn’t want the kids to still be around. You know I have a reputation to uphold.” 

Bull chuckled because he did know that. All three of his boys had felt a certain amount of sympathy for him when they learned that Johnny had been his cabin leader. 

“I would have done it.” Johnny cleared his throat. “Begged, I mean. If that had been required, I’d have been prepared to do it.” 

“For me?” Bull asked genuinely surprised. 

“Sure,” Johnny said. “I can be difficult and I didn’t want this to be difficult.” He paused again as if measuring what he was going to say about next year. “I can’t be Lip. I can’t recklessly move to a different state because you have pretty eyes. My dad gets a tuition break for me and if I’m going to finish school then my romantic gestures are limited...it just felt like we had to spend the summer together. I mean, I’m willing to bust my ass in an internship if you can’t come here but I’d rather come back here.” 

“Return to the scene of the crime?” Bull asked, guessing that Johnny wanted him to avoid pointing out that busting his ass in an internship was a pretty romantic gesture.

“Yeah, something like that,” Johnny agreed. “I just know this only works if we work on it so…”

Johnny trailed off but the implication that he wanted it to work, that he saw, at least in the meantime, a future with Bull lightened that feeling that had been heavy in Bull’s chest. 

“I’ve been looking for a job in Ohio,” Bull admitted, something he hadn’t told anyone because it was such wild eyed crazy thing to do. 

Johnny’s eyes widened almost comically wide, the surprise leaving him speechless. He opened his mouth to say something but it didn’t seem to come. Finally, Johnny seemed to decide that an action was called for. He gently took Bull’s cheek in his hand, guiding him to turn his head so that Johnny could kiss him. Bull felt like his mouth was was being mapped by Johnny’s tongue, like a memory was being created and so Bull tried his best to be memorable. 

When they broke apart for air, Johnny rested his forehead against Bull’s. Bull could feel the puffs of Johnny’s breath on his cheek. 

“I think we can do this,” Johnny said and though he sounded out of breath, he sounded confident. 

Bull decided to hang onto that confidence, borrow it until it became his own, because maybe Johnny was right. Maybe they could. Now that they were working together instead of working behind the other person's back so they didn’t hurt each others feelings. Trying to protect their own feelings because they are worried the other isn’t on the same page. 

They were on the same page. They were willing to make changes to be with each other. And most importantly, they were in it together.


	9. Chapter Nine

“Denver, sweetie, phone call for you.” 

Johnny winced as he pulled the phone away from his ear because Bull’s mom hadn’t thought to do the same. He could hear movement on the other end of the line. Not for the first time, he wished Bull would get a cellphone. It wasn’t that his mother had asked who he was or anything, but he didn’t know where this phone was and this maybe wasn’t a conversation for the middle of the living room.

“Hello?” The tone in Bull’s voice was questioning. 

“Hey sweetie,” Johnny said because he couldn’t help it. Sometimes he was just an ass. 

He heard a snort of laughter on the other end of the phone. “I will hang up on you.” 

“You wouldn’t dare,” Johnny said as he rocked back in his desk chair. 

“What do you want?” Bull sounded long suffering and there was no reason for that because Johnny knew he was a joy to be around. 

“What are you doing the weekend of April 4th?” Johnny asked still trying to keep his tone light and teasing. 

“Well, milking a cow is a daily activity,” Bull replied and Johnny could tell he didn’t mean anything by it. 

“So nothing I can’t get you out of?” Johnny asked. “Because I doubt you’ll want to miss out of the most romantic wedding of the century. ‘Cuz you know Harry is going to make a big old stupid show of this.” 

Bull chuckled. “True but, I don’t think I’m going to get an invite to Harry and Kitty’s wedding.” Bull didn’t sound upset about this, just that it was a fact and he didn’t feel one way or another.

“Well then, you’ll have to be my plus one.” Johnny really hoped he sounded casual when he said that. 

Judging by the, what Johnny felt was considerable, pause on the other end of the line, he’d maybe missed. Bull cleared his throat on the other end of the phone. “Aww shucks, you want to take me to a wedding?” 

And Johnny could tell how much this had touched Bull. “Course. Who else am I going to invite?”

There is another pause before Bull answered. “Well, as much as I appreciate that, the wedding is still in Pennsylvania. I don’t know how I’d get there.” 

Johnny took and deep breath and let it out because this was the part where he kicked the whole thing up a notch. “Well,” Johnny paused again because he was a chicken shit. “My...um...mom offered to help out that. The catch is that...the only flight she will pay for has an overnight in Ohio.” 

Johnny knew that as he told this story, his voice had started to speed up. And honest to God, he hoped that he didn’t have to go through the ‘don’t you have a girl you’d like to take’ slash coming out story again. While his parents had taken it really well, it was still awkward and borderline fighting in the unknown, so he didn’t want to relive it. 

“I could do that,” Bull replied. He didn’t sound super confident about this but then who would be at the prospect of meeting your boyfriend's parents? Were they boyfriends? Johnny was pretty sure they would be by the time he met his parents. 

“Great,” Johnny replied and he knew he didn’t sound remotely cool when he said that. “Kitty said that her parents had reserved a block of rooms at the hotel, so we’ll have somewhere to stay.” 

“Sounds good,” Bull said and his tone was much more even now and Johnny was starting to relax the more they talked. 

So now that his blood pressure was back to normal, he took a deep breath and started on his next train of thought. “I don’t care what you tell your parents.” He paused for a second but Bull didn’t cut in. “You don’t have to tell them you are going with me, just...tell them that you are going to a friend’s wedding. My involvement doesn’t have to come up.” He wanted to make sure that Bull knew he had an out. That Johnny didn’t expect Bull to have the awkward coming out conversation just because Johnny did. Johnny hated to assume that Bull’s parents were going to be weird about it, but it was Arkansas so Johnny tried not to set his hopes too high. 

“They...they know.” Bull stuttered. “I mean about you and...well I’m probably not going to tell them about the shared hotel room. I’m not sure how they’d feel about that.” 

Johnny shrugged even though Bull couldn’t see him. “I don’t think my parents care, my dad teaches at a college so I’m pretty sure he knows what goes on.” 

Bull chuckled and Johnny loved that sound. “So what are my flight details?” 

“Well, if you can leave on Thursday, you’d stay the night here and then we would leave Friday after my classes get out. Then we’d be back here Sunday and you’d leave Monday morning. If that won’t work, there is a flight that will leave on Friday and take you all the way to Pennsylvania and then we’d still be back on Sunday and you leave Monday. So it all depends on how much time you want to spend with my parents.”

“I think I can handle two days with your parents,” Bull replied. 

And Johnny hoped so. Hoped he could convince him some day to spend a lot more time then that.

*~*

“We make a pretty good team,” Johnny said as he plopped onto the bed spread eagle. 

Bull smiled and shook his head as he tossed his room key onto the dresser that was just inside the door. 

“I mean, we totally saved the getaway car,” Johnny said and his eyes were shining with just the faintest hint of alcohol.

“Kitty did look pretty pleased,” Bull said, but the only reason she wasn’t ecstatic was because she hadn’t seen the car before. 

“A waste of perfectly good condoms if you ask me.” Johnny said. 

“How would you know? We’ve never used one before.” Bull chuckled. 

“Just fuckin’ take your clothes off and get over here,” Johnny said after a long suffering sigh. 

What follows was a shower of clothing flying through the air. Johnny’s tie ends up in the shade of the bedside lamp. They stood there staring at each other for a moment, still enjoying the novelty of actually getting to see the other completely naked. 

“Get your ass over here,” Johnny swore, the impatience evident in his voice. 

Faint color dusted Bull’s cheeks from getting caught staring. “Someone is impatient,” Bull commented trying for casual as he crawled over Johnny on the bed. “What’s got you all wound up?” 

He didn’t expect an answer, Johnny wasn’t known for having a playful nature.

Johnny licked his lips before he answered. “You clean up nice.” And then as if aware that he may be revealing too much, Johnny licked his lips before he spoke again. “Turn over. I want you on your back.” 

Bull complied because it was familiar like this. It was just like the time that they snuck off in their cabin before camp started. 

“Where did you stash the lube?” Johnny asked before finding the answer to his question in the nightstand drawer. “With the Bible?” Johnny asked, laughter coloring his voice. 

Bull shrugged because he honestly hadn’t thought of it that way. Bull rolled his hips up to meet Johnny’s ass, to remind him that he did have a task at hand to focus on. 

A mischievous smirk spread across Johnny’s mouth as he pressed Bull’s hips back against the bed. “Why don’t you just lie back and enjoy the show?”

Johnny retrieved the lube from the nightstand. Johnny sucked in a deep breath as he parted his legs. He squeezed lube out onto his fingers and rubbed it back and forth to warm the gel. “Fuck,” Johnny swore as he started moving his fingers out of Bull’s line of sight. 

“You look good,” Bull said, dragging his hand over the inside of Johnny’s thigh. 

“Yeah,” Johnny hissed and Bull wasn’t sure if that was because of what he was doing or what Johnny was doing. But he decided to push his luck. 

Bull leaned up on his elbows, reaching out his fingers to trace over the lines of Johnny’s rib cage and up Johnny’s chest. Bull’s fingers traced along the lines of Johnny’s peck before he tweaked Johnny’s nipple. When that didn’t get the response that he had hoped for, he started moving his hand up to cup the back of Johnny’s head. Johnny’s eyes opened when Bull’s fingers combed through his hair. So Bull guided Johnny forward into a kiss and licked his way into Johnny’s mouth. He felt Johnny moan into his mouth. Bull could feel Johnny moving against him and pressed gentle kisses to Johnny’s lips when he felt Johnny’s mouth go slack. Bull could also feel Johnny’s dick leaking against his chest so Bull took him in hand, trying to set a slow rhythm. 

“Fuck,” Johnny whispered against Bull’s cheek. “Want to flip over?” 

“Yeah?” Bull asked because now they were getting into uncharted territory. “On your stomach?” 

“No...wanna,” Johnny gasped. “Wanna see.” 

“Ok,” Bull nodded because he still wasn’t sure how this was going to work out. And the twisting and turning didn’t turn out to bad as they got Johnny’s back against the sheets. 

“Going to need a pillow,” Johnny said reaching out awkwardly for one, so Bull retrieved it. Johnny took in a sharp breath then raised his hips to indicate where he meant for Bull to put it. 

Bull’s lack of knowledge about what to do next must have shown because Johnny nudged his thigh. “Here, this will help.” What ‘this’ was was made clear when Johnny wrapped his leg around around Bull’s waist. Bull’s fingers moved over the skin of Johnny’s knee without him even thinking about it. “It will help with the leverage.” Johnny pushed his lips together tightly to keep himself from babbling. He didn’t know why he was so nervous; it was Bull after all. 

Johnny picked up the lube off the comforter from where it had landed. “Here,” he said, taking Bull’s hand in his. “Your turn.” 

Bull swallowed and tried to remind himself that most of the work had already been done. Bull rubbed the gel between his fingers, knowing that Johnny always liked to warm it up. Then he tried an experimental trace around Johnny’s hole. Johnny gasped and rolled his hips down into Bull’s hand. 

“Hey, hold still,” Bull said, giving Johnny’s hips what he thought was a playful press against the bed. But judging by Johnny’s moan, it had been something a little bit more to Johnny. Bull filed that information away for later consideration and returned his attention to tracing around Johnny’s opening. Bull pressed his finger in slowly, watching Johnny’s face for a reaction. When Johnny seemed comfortable with what Bull was doing, he pushed the finger deeper. Bull was searching and he knew he found what he was looking for when Johnny’s mouth dropped open and Johnny’s heel pressed hard into Bull’s side. 

A warm feeling spread through Bull’s chest, finding he liked having this level of power over Johnny. Bull liked watching pleasure wash over Johnny as he added first a second finger and then a third. 

As Johnny reached out his hand to grip Bull’s leg, he also started to thrust down into Bull’s hand causing his thumb to press the stretched rim of Johnny’s hole. 

“Fuck,” Johnny swore. “I’m ready, fuck, I’m ready now.” 

“Yeah, yes, ok,” Bull said as he removed his fingers and wiped the excess lube on his leg. 

“Come on,” Johnny said, rolling his hips up into Bull. 

Bull griped Johnny’s hips with somewhat shaky hands, so he used the firm grip to ground himself. Bull kept taking deep shaky breaths to give him something else to focus on besides the wet warmth surrounding him. He didn’t want this to be over too soon but at the same Johnny felt so good. 

“Are you-” Bull started to ask before Johnny cut him off. 

“Yes, fucking go,” Johnny answered. 

“Don’t want to hurt you,” Bull slurred as he searched again for that spot that shut Johnny up and made his jaw drop. He knew he’d found it when Johnny’s eyes widened and his head tipped back into the pillow under this head. 

“Feel good?” Bull asked as he thrust in again. 

Johnny nodded, his hands gripping the comforter underneath him. 

“Fuck,” Bull swore as Johnny lifted his leg up a bit, causing the angle to change. 

Bull doesn’t feel like they were touching enough so he leaned forward into Johnny, pressing their chests together and applying pressure to Johnny’s dick as he did so. Bull braced himself with his hands placed beside Johnny’s head. Johnny’s hands come up to grip Bull’s hips as he did this. Bull made a soft noise as he leaned down to kiss Johnny. The kisses were gentle as Johnny’s fingers tighten and untighten against Bull’s skin to match the rhythm of Bull’s thrusts. 

“Bull, Bull, fuck,” Johnny chanted as Bull started to lose track of his rhythm. “Bull, fuck, harder.” 

“Yeah,” Bull answered. “Johnny.” 

“Come on, Bull, fuck,” Johnny moaned. 

Johnny’s fingers pressed against Bull’s hips so hard they hurt as Johnny came, his dick smearing their chests with come as he moaned loudly. Bull followed close behind, shaking as he did so. He pulled out and collapsed against Johnny, his head ending up resting on Johnny’s chest. 

“Fuck,” Johnny swore, fingers tracing over Bull’s back.

Bull laughed. 

Johnny gave a shove against Bull’s shoulder. “Come on, big guy. We have to shower.”

Bull groaned knowing that Johnny was right, but he didn’t want to move. 

What finally got Bull moving was what Johnny said next. “If you’re good, I’ll blow you in the shower.”


	10. Chapter Ten

Johnny dragged his hand over his face as he leaned back against the elevator wall before he turned his head to yawn into his shoulder. He was ok with being awake right now, but he needed breakfast because he did have a flight to catch in a couple of hours. 

“You feeling ok?” Bull asked. 

“Just tried. Someone kept me up pretty late last night.” Johnny smiled as he said this. 

“I don’t remember it being all my fault,” Bull replied. 

Johnny shrugged as the elevator door opened. “Of course you don’t.” 

When they rounded the corner into dining room, Johnny immediately spotted Lip sitting at a table by himself, sliding his finger across a tablet.

“Wanna sit with Lip?” Johnny asked, turning to Bull. 

“Where else are we going to sit?” Bull asked as if the answer should have come to Johnny all on his own. 

Johnny gave Bull a shove in the shoulder before he headed over to sit with Lip, while Bull headed for food. 

“It’s the joy of having a boyfriend that you never have to eat alone,” Johnny said as he pulled a chair out on the other side of the table from Lip. 

“Well, after his morning cigarette, that might be true,” Lip said, looking up at Johnny. 

“You gonna make him quit that shit?” Johnny said, sitting down at the table. 

Lip shrugged. “It’s hard to get him to do things he doesn’t want to do. I’m sure that you know nothing about that.” Lip leaned his head in Bull’s direction. 

Johnny shook his head because yeah, he did know a little bit about that. 

“Sparky mocked me for this already but I honestly didn’t know that the two of you were together,” Lip looked a little embarrassed when he said this. 

“How the fuck did Speirs know about this?” Johnny asked. Not because he was embarrassed or because he’d been hiding, but he was honestly confused because Speirs had been the last one he expected to notice something. Well, to notice something that wasn’t related to Lip. 

“He’s more observant than people give him credit for,” Lip said as Bull sat down. 

“Can you believe that Speirs knew we were together,” Johnny asked, his shock speaking for him before he could be concerned about whether Bull thought they were together or not. 

“I hate to tell you this,” Bull said, doing his best not to out right laugh at Johnny. But Johnny could tell so he was failing quite a bit. “But I don’t think that we were that good at sneaking around.”

“Then why didn’t someone tell us so we could fuckin’ stop?” Johnny asked, gesturing with his arms. 

“It was kinda funny,” Speirs said, making Johnny jump as he came up from behind Johnny and pulled out the chair next to Lip. He already had a cup of coffee in his head so he must have been there for sometime. 

Johnny narrowed his eyes at Speirs because come on, he’d extended him a lot courtesy when he and Lip got together. A heads up would have been literally the least he could do. 

“Kitty and Harry made it out this morning.” Speirs changed the subject with his usual lack of grace. 

“They’ll probably be in Chicago pretty soon, I’d imagine,” Lip said, tapping his tablet so that he could check the time. Kitty and Harry had planned a three day weekend in Chicago to make up for the fact that they couldn’t take a proper honeymoon until June. 

“Oh look, here comes the next wedding we’ll probably be forced to go to,” Speirs said before taking a drink of his coffee. 

Johnny was about to turn to see what the hell he was talking about when he heard Buck’s loud and honestly too cheery for this hour good morning. 

“Better start looking for deals on airfare to California now,” Speirs said, finishing his thought. 

“Be nice,” Lip muttered. “I like her.” 

“Liking her isn’t going to make those tickets any cheaper,” Spiers said, gesturing with his coffee cup. 

“You’re actually going to let them steal your space in line?” Bull asked. 

“Figured we’d just save everyone the trouble and do it without you,” Spiers said. “Harry’s the only one that seems to get sensitive about these things.” 

Johnny laughed. “You save me from having to fly to Massachusetts and I’ll buy you a blender for that.” 

“See there you go, raking in the household appliances already,” Speirs said as he nudged Lip’s arm with his elbow. 

Lip shook his head. “I have hand my eye on a new one.” 

And as Johnny sat there, he could see Speirs’ point, though watching Kitty and Harry say their vows had touched something in Johnny Martin that he hadn’t known was there. It didn’t move him so much that he had a desire to join them. He didn’t know as he sat there in the hotel if one day he was going to want to marry Bull, or if Bull would want to marry him. He was young, he knew that. Too young to be trusted with a life changing decision. He figured they should try to live together at some point; his mom had always told him that would be a good idea. He didn’t know if they’d survived that. Or how they would even get to that. But he wanted to try because when they carved out those little moments for themselves by the lake, it was everything that Johnny felt he needed in that moment. And he liked to hope that that would be enough.


	11. Epilogue

Bull padded into the kitchen, revealing that between the two of them, they had managed to figure out the timer on the coffee pot. He grabbed the coffee cup that Ashley had given him for Father Day’s the year before - the Papa mug that went with Dad one Johnny kept in his office. Black coffee in hand, he headed into the living room so he could find his tablet and check their flights. The room was bathed in the light from a digital picture frame on the desk. Jessica’s daughter had put it together for their anniversary a couple of years ago, saying it was a shame to have all their old photos on dusty old drives. 

When Bull sat down in his chair, it was showing a picture of the pair of them at Igintli. They are streaked with white paint from the year they painted the the cabins. Johnny is up on a ladder that Bull is holding. They had turned to the camera because it was Lip, and Johnny had even managed a smile. Probably also because it was Lip, because Bull didn’t remember Lip asking them too. 

He sat there staring at their lives as he listened to the sounds of waking up in the back of the house. First the alarm that sounded like a tugboat rolling into their Phoenix Patio Home. The picture changed and they were in the kitchen of Bull’s parents’ house, Johnny toasting a beer against the print out Bull is holding of his trade school diploma. His dad is standing next to him, arm around him toasting the diploma. His mama is lifting a slice of cake behind the paper, blue frosting on her fingers. His sister Cheyenne had taken the picture, telling everyone to say cheers. His dad had been so proud - working in caterpillar maintenance was something he understood. Bull had just liked it because he could do it anywhere. 

The next picture is Johnny’s graduation, the look on his face almost pained but his parents couldn’t have looked prouder if they’d tried of the brightly colored cords around Johnny’s neck indicating he was graduating with honors. Johnny’s father is pulling Bull into the picture, arms tight around both him and Johnny. They had asked a stranger to take the picture, she’d told them she’d take a safety picture just in case. 

The next picture was Bull and Johnny standing opposite of another couple around a frame on the wall. The document is the license for a brand new construction company. Their brand new construction company and the guy on the other side of the frame was Brett, Johnny’s college friend and new business partner. In three years, the woman in the picture would be Brett’s wife, Faith, but right then she had been his girlfriend. She had bought the frame; if the photo had panned out a bit more, it would be obvious that it was the only furniture they had. Faith would start out working reception and Johnny would eventually talk Bull into more schooling so he could be superintendent. Bull had retried a few years ago, football and construction finally taking their collective toll on his knees. 

A flash of light and the picture changed again. It was a picture in a hallway. Johnny and Bull’s parents are there too and Bull’s sister was pulling Bull into a side hug. They are all wearing jeans as Johnny had insisted. Bull had just been disappointed he hadn’t thought of it first. They were in a courthouse in downtown Phoenix and they had just gotten married. If Bull remembered correctly, Lip had taken this photo too. There were pictures with all the friends and family together, but Jess had chosen a photo of just the family for the frame. A picture of all the attendees is hanging in their kitchen, covering the old phone jack there. 

Bull smiled as the picture changed - they are all sitting around the sofa in Bull’s parents’ living room. Both sets of parents, a beaming Cheyenne, and Johnny’s father looks like he barely made it in the photo. He’d set the timer on his iPhone, cradled in the stand for one of Bull’s mama’s decorative plates, on the back of the chair that matches the sofa. All this fuss for the newest member of the family, looking especially small in Bull’s arms, Jessica Louise. They gave her Bull’s grandmother’s name as a middle name as Johnny thought it would be a nice thing to do for Bull’s mama. She’d started crying and kissing Jessica’s head when they told her. After that Jessica grows with them in pictures, blowing out candles, playing in the pool, and in a pink hard hat while trying to lift Bull’s tool belt. 

Then they are in Johnny’s parents backyard, and the gang’s all together again with two noticeable differences. Bull’s father had passed away that spring and Jessica now sits up on her own, all of four years old. She not looking at the camera but rather staring fixated on her younger sister in Johnny’s arms, Ashley Blake. It was Johnny’s mother’s maiden name. It had only seemed right to carry it down one more generation. Then they were a complete family of four, their girls growing beside them as the pictures changed. 

“What are you doing sitting in the dark?” Johnny asked as he dropped his bag in the hallway. “Alexa, turn on Bull’s light.” The lamp on his side table clicks on. 

“Just to early for light,” Bull shrugged, trying to deflect that he was being sentimental. 

“Fuck knows that’s right.” Johnny dragged his hand across his face. “I called the Lyft, should be here soon.” 

Bull nodded. He’d been looking forward to this trip with the excitement normally reserved for dental surgery. It was time to sell the family farm. His parents had long since passed and Austin was running it into the ground with apathy and alcoholism. So it was time for Bull and Cheyenne to be the older siblings and take charge of the situation. 

“Cheyenne still picking us up?” Johnny asked. 

Bull nodded. “She called last night to say we are still on.” 

Johnny nodded. When Bull had mentioned this trip Johnny hadn’t hesitated. He had booked plane tickets and had arranged for a dog sitter for their golden lab, Scout. He didn’t bat an eye at leaving his business for who knew how long. When Bull had protested, Johnny had just said “better or worse, you are stuck with me always.” And of all the places he’d ever felt stuck, high school, that farm, and Arkansas, he’d never felt stuck with Johnny. This was a choice they had made together, feet in the water by the side of a lake. And there was no one Bull Randleman would rather have by his side for better or worse, than Johnny Martin.

**Author's Note:**

> As always I send my eternal love for Gilove2dance. She was my beta for this fic, and she did this even though her OTP is nowhere to be found. I don't know how I'd do this without her.


End file.
